Mercury Village, the new headquarters of Mercury Payment Systems, earned the second-highest point total of any local building that has been rated by the U.S. Green Building Council, an industry nonprofit group.
Mercury Village recently earned a Gold rating in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. Mercury’s 63 points were the second-most ever earned by a building in Durango, behind only Animas-La Plata’s facility at 125 Smelter Place, which earned 67 points.
“Our hope when we began construction of this newest ‘green’ facility was to be responsible and to reflect the beauty of the community around us and bring that beauty indoors as much as possible,” Matt Taylor, Mercury’s president of integrated payments, said in a news release.
“To achieve LEED Gold status is a strong testament to Mercury’s dedication to sustainability, a commitment strongly endorsed by our employees and community,” Taylor said.
Mercury Village, 150 Mercury Village Dr., spans 80,500 square feet in three stories. One story is below ground.
Mercury Village is the eighth Durango building to earn a LEED certification. The others are Citigroup, Animas-La Plata, two city of Durango buildings, Durango Public Library and Durango Transit Center; and three Fort Lewis College projects, Animas Hall, the Student Union addition and the reconstruction of Berndt Hall.
Mercury Village opened in May. That same month, Mercury Payment Systems was acquired for $1.65 billion by Vantiv, a larger competitor based in Cincinnati.
The LEED criteria is complex. Mercury earned points for recycling 75 percent of construction materials, installing water-efficient restroom fixtures and incorporating natural light, among other measures.
Other measures that earned points included building a bus stop just outside the facility, installing an electric-vehicle charging station steps from the main entrance and providing bicycle racks indoors and outdoors. Mercury also purchased a few bikes for employees to check out.
The company received no tax breaks for achieving the LEED Gold rating, spokeswoman Marie Rotter said in an email message.
Mercury has 372 employees in Durango, and another 225 in Denver. About 25 more work remotely from other locations.
Facilities manager Tony Gallero said he works to match everything in the Durango and Denver offices as much as possible. “They drink the same coffee out of the coffee maker,” he said.
Local consultant Michelle Reott guided Mercury through the LEED process. She was traveling last week and could not be reached for comment.
The project team included local firms Earthly Ideas LLC, Russell Planning & Engineering, Jeremy Rivera Consulting LLC, and Okland Construction, Dekker/Perich/Sabatini and The Response Group, Inc. of Albuquerque, Quest Energy Group of Tempe, Arizona, and Savills Studley of Irvine, California.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
